Battling Spirits
by Otaku from Hell
Summary: Lucy woke up in a great way. Only to be reminded that Team Natsu has been ignoring her and that they wanted to speak to her. What will she do when she hears it? What will she find? And above all, how is she going to keep the thing she finds in the forest alive? But there is one thing she knows for sure. She will not run away.
1. Chapter 1

Lucy's house - Lucy's POV.

I woke up with a smile on my face. Who shouldn't I? I was happy with my family (Fairy Tail) and a new day has just began. I slowly sat up while stretching myself and walked to the bathroom. Like always, I stepped under the shower after undressing myself and started washing my hair with my favorite shampoo - strawberry and vanilla flavoured. I just loved taking showers or baths. It really did great for my mood and I could also relax for a while.  
But, all things come to an end, and so did my shower. I slowly stepped out of it, began rubbing myself dry with a towel and then picked out some clothes to wear for today.  
_"What should I wear today? This is my main problem every morning.. well .. unless some idiot decides to sleep in my bed, then I have a much bigger problem." _I thought while throwing piece after piece of my clothing through the room out of the dresser.

After what seemed like an hour, I decided to just go with my usual outfit - blue skirt which reached above my knees, white shirt with blue stripes, black leather high heeled boots that reach up to my knees and of course my brown belt so that I can keep my keys with me. My blonde hair was just tied up in the side pony tail. I looked at the clock to see it was 9 in the morning. Time enough to walk to the guild.

I walked out of my apartment and locked my door. As always, I called Plue. With a bright flash, he appeared from the celestial world. "Pluun, pluun!" I hugged him tight, he was just so cute! "Plue do you wan't to walk with me to the guild again?" I already knew the answer, but I always asked that to hear that cute voice. "Pluun!" He nodded eagerly. I smiled at him.

Moments later, I arrived at the guild. I pushed the doors open and greeted everyone with a smile. "Hey everyone! good morning." "Good morning Lucy." Everyone answered me.  
I made my way to the bar, while sending Plue back to the Celestial World. "Hi, Mira." I said to the barmaid. "Hi, Lucy." She answered with a smile. "What can I get for you?" "A strawberry smoothie, please." "Sure, coming right up." She quickly walked away to get it. While waiting for my smoothie, I scanned the guild to see if there was anyone I could talk to. Such as an annoying, but for some reason cute, Dragon Slayer. Dejected, I turned back to the bar. No one of Team Natsu was present.

"Gihi, Team Natsu left early this morning, bunny girl." I turned around once again to see that that voice belonged to none other then Black Steel Gajeel. "Why? I haven't heard anything from them." He just shrugged, "I dunno why they haven't said anything to you, but they were saying something about going on a mission with that white haired kid who just returned from Edolas."

I could feel my emotions going from happy to unhappy in a matter of seconds. I smiled, which did not go easy, and said, "Oh, well at least they can catch up that way." Apparently, Gajeel noticed that I was unhappy, by looking at my eyes. I could only imagine how unhappy I was looking at the moment. "Bunny girl, don't let it get to you, they will be back before you know it and you can go being a happy bunny again. Gihi." "Gajeel, I'm not a bunny!" "Well, I can clearly remember you putting on a bunny suit as if it where every day business." He smirked when he said this. "Stupid Gajeel.. even though I wore a bunny suit does not mean I am a bunny!" I pouted. "Pouting only makes you cuter and guess what? Bunnies are cute. Another reason you are one." "For the last time I am not...! Wait.." _"Did he just call me cute?" _My mouth began forming a small smile. "You, mister Black Steel Gajeel, just called me cute." "Gihi. No I didn't."

He walked away after having said that. "Thanks Gajeel." I whispered. But I knew he could still hear me. _"Thanks for trying to comfort me." _"Lucy! Do you like him? Are you going out with him? kyaaah!" Mirajane suddenly said, interrupting my thoughts. I could just see her imagining black haired babies with brown eyes or blonde haired babies with red eyes. I sighed, "No Mirajane, we're not going out. So stop imagining! Because I know your brain is going the wrong way right now."  
She pouted and handed me my strawberry smoothie. "Thanks, Mira." I smiled at the white-haired mage who sort of became like a big sister to me.

"No problem Lucy. I still think you and Gajeel are hiding something though." She stared into my eyes as if she could read my mind that way. I laughed and immediately rejected that thought, "No, Mira! We're just friends!" She also started laughing, but walked away when someone at the other side of the bar needed something. Which left me alone, drinking my strawberry smoothie and thinking about some things.

_"Ever since Lisanna came back from Edolas, they've started to spend more time with her. Not, that that's wrong, she came back from the dead for Mavis's sake, but do they really have to ignore me in the process? Even Mirajane, her big sister, still talks with me normally. So why can't they? I just hope that when they come back they'll take me on a mission. I need rent money again, because the month is almost over. The biggest reason, of course, is that I want to spend some time with my Team without being ignored most of the time.." _

Gajeel's POV.

While I walked away I heard her whispering, "Thanks Gajeel." _"Gheh, I should've know she would see through me."_ I took my place next to book worm, whom looked up from her book to say "Hi." and started reading again. Not that I cared, she was reading the whole day. After a while, I looked at Bunny girl and saw that she was lost in her thoughts. _"She must be thinking about Team Natsu and that white haired kid. They've been ignoring her for some time now and it actually saddens me, because Bunny girl is one of the few people who actually talk to me without being scared." _He started looking around and saw Laxus staring at bunny girl too. _"He must've noticed that sad aura as well." _

Just then, I noticed Demon Barmaid walking up to Bunny girl again and with my Dragon Ears, I started listening in on their conversation. "O, Lucy, I forgot something to tell you." Lucy, a bit startled because she was still lost in her thoughts, answered, "No problem Mira, what is it?" "Well, Team Natsu said to tell you to be here tomorrow morning because they had something to tell you." Lucy seemed shocked and said, "Ok, sure. Thanks for telling me Mira." She smiled at the Demon Barmaid and then walked out of the guild. While Lucy walked out of the guild, I smelled some unshed tears. _"I hope Bunny girl will be alright." _Where my last thoughts before shifting my attention to book worm.

Lucy's POV.

_"What if they're kicking me out of the team? They wouldn't right?" _That was everything I could think of the moment I exited the guild. _"Maybe I shouldn't think so negatively. They are my nakama after all. Perhaps they're inviting me to go on a mission!" _I smiled a bit before my thoughts went negative again. _"But what if they decided that Lisanna is so much better then me? She's their childhood friend after all, they have more memories to share with her. Not to forget that she's stronger than me." _My smile disappeared.

I just walked without looking where I went, before arriving at the shopping mall. "Maybe this will help me clear up my mind." I softly said to myself. I also thought of a plan to distract me even better. "Loke!" I slightly touched his key and with a bright flash, a young man appeared. "Yes, princess?" He dropped to one knee and gave me a kiss on my hand. I gave him a light punch on the head while saying, "Don't do that! You pervy lion!" "It's just because our love is too great, that I can't control myself, Princess." He answered with a smile. I looked at him as he were crazy and then said with a sweet smile, "Loke, won't jou join me? I'm going to shop and I plan to buy lots of stuff." At that moment I really had to control myself not to burst out in laughter, because his face was just priceless! "B-but, Princess.." He started, "Don't you have to write your novel or something?" There was a spark of hope in his eyes but that all disappeared when I said that I really wanted to go shopping and he has to come with me. "F-fine then.." "Great! Let's go shall we?" I grabbed his arm and started to pull him to the shops. "Time to shop!" _"And also time to get my thoughts out of the negative."_

**Alright! That's it for chapter one. If you liked it, please say so, this is after all the first fanfiction I have ever written so I appreciate every thought. If there was something wrong, or something you didn't like I'd also like to know, so I can improve myself ^_^**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hiro Mashima owns Fairy Tail, not me. Sadly.**

Lucy's POV - At home after shopping

I was quite happy at the moment. I found 3 new shirts and new boots. However, I couldn't say the same about the pervy lion who passed out on my couch. It was quite funny actually, immediately after we came home he started whispering something about never wanting to go shopping again, but maybe I heard wrong. He passed out after reaching my couch.

I smiled softly at him. He looked so innocent while sleeping. His hair was slightly messed up because of the wind, but his clothing was still the same as when he arrived from the Spirit World - a nicely worn black suit. I made my way over to the kitchen and started preparing our dinner. I didn't know if he would eat together with me, but it's better to be prepared.

While I was cooking I started humming a song I knew from when I was a little girl. My mother taught me it when I was around five years old. I missed her a lot. She died when I was a 10-year-old and after that my father started ignoring me. He didn't care. Thinking back, it may have been because I look a lot like my mother. We are almost the splitting image of each other. I brought a rice ball to his office once, trying to say that it was my birthday, but he just threw it from his desk saying that if I didn't have anything else to do, I had to start learning how to behave like a proper bride. Seven years later I ran away, finally having picked up the courage. I met Natsu then and he brought me to Fairy Tail.

Natsu.. Why does he ignore me since Lisanna came back? I'm still his best friend right?  
Well, I shouldn't think about it too much. He'll talk to me tomorrow and everything will be alright, I nodded to myself.

By now, dinner was ready, so I started preparing the table and once that was done I went to the passed out lion on my couch. "Loke, dinner is ready. Do you want to eat some?" He only answered with a small growl. I tried again, speaking a little harder this time. "Loke, wake up, dinner is ready." Still, he didn't wake up.  
_"That's it," _I thought, _"If you can't wake up the easy way, then it has to be done the hard way." _So, I just pushed him of the couch and stared at him with my hands on my hips. "Ouch!" He exclaimed, "Why did you do that Princess?" "Dinner is ready and you wouldn't wake up, that's why." "We are eating dinner together, Princess?" He asked with little hearts in his eyes. "Yes, pervy lion, you earned it. After all, you did survive 4 hours of shopping with me." Grinning, I went to the kitchen to get the food.

Loke's POV

While she went to the kitchen I thought back to those 4 hours of pure torture. The first shop she went in was a perfume shop and I almost fainted on the spot thanks to my sensitive nose.  
Thankfully, when she saw me holding my nose as if my life depended on it, she told me to wait outside. I stood there for 20 minutes. But, I didn't complain. I knew she was unhappy because of something and with a good guess, I figured it was about Natsu.

When she came outside, finally, I immediately went up to her to offer my arm. She just giggled and took it. I asked what she bought and she answered that she didn't find anything to her liking. How? She was in that shop for 20 minutes..? Writing it off as a girl thing, I walked to the next shop with her. A clothing shop.  
She found outfit after outfit and decided that I had to sit in a chair in front of the changing room. She showed me more than 6 sets of clothing and with each of them she asked for my oppinion. The only thing I could answer was 'It's great!', because I could feel a nosebleed coming.

This repeated itself shop after shop, until I eventually couldn't help myself but ask, 'Princess, you must be tired, shall we go home?' at which she answered, 'I'm not tired at all, but thanks for asking.' Honestly, it was me who was tired. How could she still walk after all those shops? But, being the loyal Leo, I couldn't leave her alone now. It wouldn't take that long anymore right? How wrong I was.

Ending my stream of thoughts, I began eating the dinner which Princess had made for me. "Princess, your cooking is simply delicious." "Why, thank you. I did my best." She said while smiling a little. I resisted the urge to jump up and kiss her hand again. She would just call me a pervy lion again.  
After the delicious meal she began cleaning the table and I, of course, helped her. "Thank you very much for the dinner, my Princess. May you sleep well tonight." "No problem, Loke." I bowed, winked at her and left to the Spirit World in a bright flash.

Lucy's POV - The next morning

After showering and quickly dressing myself, which didn't take an hour now because I knew what I wanted to wear this time, I went to the guild. I slowly opened the doors, knowing that today was the day Team Natsu wanted to speak with me.  
Greeted by the guild, I looked around to see that Team Natsu wasn't here yet. I made way to the bar and smiled when I saw Mirajane coming towards me. "Hi Lucy, let me guess, one strawberry smoothie?" "Yes, please." She gave me a quick smile and went to get it.

Just at that moment, the guild door was kicked open, revealing Team Natsu. "Oi everyone, we are back!" Natsu yelled. A few of the guild members complained about kicking the door open, again, but most of them just laughed. "How was the mission Natsu?" Someone asked. He sweatdropped and answered, "Ehh good, we completed it.. But we sort of destroyed a bakery in the proces." When I heard that I looked at Erza to see that she was not happy. And to say that was an understatement. She was emitting a killing aura, thinking back at all those cakes. "That wasn't our fault, one of the enemies just threw Natsu into it and he was stuck under something so he just set the whole thing on fire to free himself!" Lisanna explained. Erza gave her a little glare and then said, "He could've just lifted the thing off him! He didn't have to use his fire! All my delicious cakes.." She was whispering the last part. Lisanna just shrugged, "It still wasn't his fault."

They made their way further into to guild, to see me sitting at the bar. "Hi, Luce." Natsu's smile was coming back now that Erza's killing aura was slowly decreasing. "Hi, Natsu" Smiling I answered him, thinking that everything would be alright.  
"Mira told you we wanted to talk to you right?" Erza said. "Well, yeah. So what's it about guys? Are we going on a mission?" Lisanna looked at me as if I were crazy and she also had a hint of victory in her eyes. _"Victory? Why would her eyes have a hint of victory in them and why is she looking at me as if I were crazy?" _I thought, when Natsu suddenly said words that crushed my heart. "No, we think it is better if Lisanna takes your place on the team." "W-why?" I stuttered, not believing my ears. "Well, we know Lisanna longer and honestly, you're quite weak."  
"I agree. If you leave the team you will have time to train and you could use that." Erza finished.

Tears were welling up in my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. I looked at Gray, but he didn't say anything and just looked the other way. Although I did see in his eyes that he didn't fully agree with this. Returning my attention to Natsu, I asked, "B-but Natsu, W-we are nakama right? Nakama don't throw each other out of the team, right?" "Luce, don't. We're not going to change our mind." Hearing that was the last straw. The tears that I was holding back, came crashing down and I just had to get away from here. So, I ran out of the guild.

I ran and ran until I stood at the edge of the city, right in front of a forest. I walked into the forest so that no one would notice me. I collapsed against a tree and cried. _"Why? Why?! WHY?!" _Were the only thoughts alive in my head. THe crying didn't stop. It just couldn't. There was a bright flash and suddenly someone embraced me. "Princess, what is wrong? Stop crying please, I'm here for you." "L-loke. P-please just hold me." "I will Princess, I will." After what seemed like forever, my crying decreased a bit. I lifted my head of off Loke's shoulder to see his suit was now wet from my tears. "S-sorry, Loke. I-i sort of ruïned your suit." "Don't worry, my Princess. I have a whole closet full of the exact same suits." A little smile fought itself on my face and before I knew it, I dropped my head on his shoulder again and fell asleep from exhaustion.

**That concludes the second chapter. Saw any mistakes? Please say so, I will change it immediately. Till next time ^_^**


	3. Chapter 3

**I don't own Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima does.**

Mirajane's POV - At the guild

"How DARE you?!" I screamed at Team Natsu. _"I can't believe they just did this to her!" _My eyes filled with intent to kill. I thought back at what they just told me and what I heard, thinking that maybe, just maybe, I overlooked something or heard something incorrectly.

_I had just finished Lucy's strawberry smoothie, when I saw her running out of the guild. "Where is she going? She didn't drink her smoothie! I just finished making it.." Natsu turned himself to me and said "Don't worry Mira, she's just overreacting." "Overreacting? Why? What happened?" I asked, getting the feeling that something bad had happened. Erza then spoke to me. "We kicked Lucy out of Team Natsu so that she could train on her own and get stronger." My eyes widened and I just couldn't hold the smoothie anymore. It fell to the ground and it shattered to pieces. "You did WHAT?!"_

"You are her nakama! You can't just throw her out of your team!" Slowly, I felt myself turning into a demon. Satan Soul. "N-Now Mira, why don't you call down.. You don't want the guild destroyed right?" Natsu said with a tiny voice. "Indeed Mira, Master would be disappointed and sad if he had to rebuild the guild again." I turned myself to the scarlet haired woman and couldn't believe what she just said. "Me? Disappointed at me?! Look at yourself! Look at what you have done to Lucy! If he would be disappointed at anyone, IT WOULD BE YOU FOUR IDIOTS!"

With that said, I began throwing everything I could find at them. Glasses, plates, chairs, it didn't matter what, I just had to throw stuff at them to release some of my anger. I knew I couldn't attack them with my Satan Soul, I can't attack nakama, that's why I was showing my anger and sadness in another way.

Natsu was slowly walking backwards while defending himself, not wanting to face an angry me. Erza, however, just stood there dodging everything I threw. Lisanna wasn't so lucky, she got a plate in her face. If I wasn't so angry, I would've felt horrible for hurting my own sister, but I knew she played a role in this. I wasn't stupid. Gray just took everything I threw at him. Seeing that, I felt as if he was the only one from team Natsu who didn't agree with it. Besides Happy. Where was that cat anyway?

Just when I was about to throw a table at Natsu, Master entered the guild.  
"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?" He screamed. When I saw him, my tears, that hadn't shown themselves until now, appeared and slowly made there way across my face. "Master!" I put the table down and turned back into my normal human form. "My child, what's wrong?" "Team Natsu just kicked Lucy out of their team saying that she wasn't strong enough."

"WHAT?!" His eyes went big and he looked at Team Natsu. "Is this true?" "Yes," This was the first time since I came back with the smoothie that I heard Lisanna say something. "We did kick her out." "Natsu, Erza, Lisanna and Gray.. Go to my office RIGHT NOW!" Without hesitation they all ran, except Erza she just walked, to Masters' office. "And you, Mira, I thank you for caring so much about Lucy. I know you think about her as if she was your little sister. She will be coming back and she needs some support. You can't give that if you're crying the whole time." I nodded and tried to smile a little. "Thank you, Master."

After I saw him walk to his office, I began cleaning the guild and saw the damage I had done. Apparently, not all the plates I threw were without food on them. Jet and Droy looked like a spaghetti monster, while Macao had a couple of meatballs in his mouth. Gajeel's beer was on the floor, he didn't look to happy about that, and Levy's clothing looked like she had just come out of a swimming pool. Her book, thank god, wasn't harmed. Never touch her books, she will turn into hell itself.

Other guild members were pretty much ok, but then there was Laxus and his team, the Raijinshu. When my eyes reached them, I sweatdropped. "Oops." Laxus had a vork in his hair and some tomato juice on his face, his shirt was hit by a combination of beer and bacon, but the table luckily protected his pants from any harm. Bickslow had defended himself with his babies, that's why his babies now had all sorts of cutlery in them. They reminded me of a hedgehog. Evergreen had hid herself behind Bickslow. Freed, however, wasn't so lucky. One of the knives that I had thrown, was now behind him stuck in the wall, with some hair on it. Apparently I had cut off one of his lightning bolt shaped hair strands.

"I'm so sorry!" I quickly said to them and bowed like there was no tomorrow. Laxus chuckled a bit, but everyone clearly saw he had to restrain himself to not murder someone. Bickslow was yelling, "My babies! Nooo!" and Evergreen was on the ground, laughing her ass off. Freed just looked wide-eyed at his hair not knowing what to say. I think he couldn't believe that he lost on of his lightning bolts, or that he just didn't know what to feel right now.

I once again said I was sorry, before I started to clean up this mess. _"I hope you're okay Lucy. Quickly come back so that we can help you." _Were my last thoughts, before fully indulging myself to cleaning.

Makarov's POV - His office.

"Start explaining. Now." I sat behind my desk with my arms crossed. "Like Mira said, we have kicked Lucy off the team." Erza plainly said. _"This isn't like her. Normally she wouldn't even think about hurting on of her nakama." _I thought before asking, "Natsu, what is your reason for accepting? I thought she was your best friend." "Well yeah, she is, but I'm sick of having to rescue her every mission. She needs to get herself together," He looked quite bored when he continued, "Besides, she is always complaining that we destroy too much."

I sighed. Where did all my children go? This wasn't like them. "Erza, what's your reason?" "She needs to train. She is- wás the weakest on our team."  
"Lisanna, your turn. Explain." "I just want to spend more time with my nakama. I missed them so much. That's why I agreed." She looked like she wanted to say something else. Something not so nice. Again, I sighed. _"Did she hear herself just now? She said that she wants to spend more time with her nakama. Isn't Lucy one of your nakama then?"_

"And Gray, why did you agree?" "I didn't" He answered. "You didn't?" "No. The first time I heard that we were kicking Lucy out, we were standing for the guild and before I could say no, they already opened the door and walked up to Lucy to give her the news." A small smile came on my face. _"At least one of them is the same." _I thought before asking, "Then why didn't you say anything?" Gray lowered his head and said with a small voice, "I don't know. For some reason, I just couldn't say anything." _"Well, that certainly is strange, normally you would've spoken up immediately." _I frowned.

"After hearing your reasons, I've thought of a reasonable punishment." "Punishment?!" Natsu screamed. "Yes, Natsu, punishment. I can't just let this go. You've hurt a nakama." I stood up and walked around my desk, to stand in front of them. "Natsu, Erza and Lisanna. You three aren't allowed to take any missions for a month. In short, you'll be on stand by." Erza accepted it immediately, Lisanna just shrugged, but Natsu was jumping up and down screaming that it wasn't fair. Ignoring him, I continued, "And Gray, you'll help Lucy anyway you can." Gray thankfully nodded. "Now out of my office! I have a lot of paperwork to do. Thanks to a team that destroyed a bakery." They sweatdropped and exited the office. I went back to sit in my chair and thought,

_"Something isn't right."_

Lucy's POV - At the forest.

While yawning, I stretched myself. Still half-asleep, I tried to roll over, only to feel someone against me. I opened my eyes and saw Loke. "You pervy-lion, what are you doing in MY BED?!" I yelled while Lucy-kicking him. He flew against a tree. _"Wait, why is there a tree in my room?" _I thought when everything came back to me. _"I remember now, we are in the forest I ran to, when they kicked me out of the team." _I could feel all that sadness returning to me, but I ignored it. I wouldn't brake down. Not again. I walked over to Loke and gave him a slight push. "Loke, are you alright?" He rolled over to look at me and answered, "I'm fine, Princess. Are you alright as well?" "I'm still sad, but I'll live."

He smiled a bit and put his hand on my cheek. "No matter what they say, you're not weak. Remember that." I nodded and noticed that my eyes became foggy again. "Sssh, don't cry. Go home, take a nice bath and make dinner for yourself. It's only half past four you know." "You're not coming with me?" I asked. "Sorry, Princess, but I'm afraid I have to return to the Spirit World." Understanding, I nodded. He gave me a pat on the head and returned to the Spirit World in a bright flash. I stood up and began walking towards my house.

When I reached it, I immediately opened the door and ran to the bathroom. I smelled like the forest and everything in it. Not wanting to smell like that, I quickly undressed and stepped under the shower. After thoroughly washing myself I turned the shower off and put a towel around me and my hair. Then, I walked to the kitchen to make a meal for myself. I ate in silence.

Not wanting to let my mind think about sad thinks for a while, I came up with all sorts of ridiculous stuff, or started thinking about next chapters for my novel. But even that had it's limits and I had finished my meal now as well. I went to my room and dressed myself, thinking about what I could do to spend the evening. The only thing I could think of was summoning one of my spirits. So, I reached for my keys only to find out they weren't on my belt. Turning around, I saw that they weren't on my desk either. I ran to the bathroom, the kitchen and the living room, I searched everywhere, but I couldn't find them.  
_"What if I lost them? Aquarius would kill me!" _I was beginning to panick, when I suddenly thought about the forest. _"What if they slipped of my belt when I was sleeping there? Now I'm certainly getting killed by Aquarius!" _ I ran out of my house and straight to the forest.

Luckily, when I arrived, I saw them l on the ground near the tree I slept next to. I attached them to my belt again, sighing happily that I found them. _"Aquarius! The next time I summon her I'm done for!" _Thinking about that, I shivered. I began walking back, when I suddenly heard something. I turned around to stare into the forest and heard it again. _"It sounds like some animal in pain." _I walked further into the forest, hearing it louder with every couple of steps I took. I started running towards the sound now, forgetting how stupid that could be. _"What if it's dying? I have to help!"_ After running for about 5 minutes, I entered an open area of the forest. And what I saw took my breath away. My eyes widened and I could feel my legs buckling. I fell to the ground and leaned on my arms when I exclaimed,

"What is THAT?!"

**I wish you all a very Happy New Year! See you next time :) **


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